SSS says ‘increase in pension’

depletes retirement fund life

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol Dec 9 (PIA) –Unless the Social Security System (SSS) can find more sustainable sources of income, adding more to the retirement pension benefits for its members would be a tough decision, says President and Chief Executive Officer Rolando Ledesma Macasaet.

Speaking before a packed Be Grand Hotel Convention Hall in Panglao, Macasaet met labor and management representatives and voluntary members for the Stakeholders Forum, with SSS Executives and local field office officials to thresh out issues and concerns troubling members.

The Commission members are here conducting stakeholders’ forum, meeting representatives of the labor and management to listen to concerns and clarify issues in the interaction, so we can have much better services, explained SSS Executive Vice President for Operations Voltaire Agas, during his introduction to the forum.

Asked when the SSS is going to implement the promised increase in pension, Macasaet took the occasion to clarify the SSS position on the promised P1,000 to P2,000 windfall for retired members.

He said there are roughly 3.5 million pensioners getting their benefits from the SSS. With the proposal to increase, the magnitude of the money needed would be P3.5 billion monthly or P7B from the SSS retirement fund, if the increase is P2,000.

Multiply that amount to 12 for the 12 months and easily, SSS retirement fund bleeds P 42B or P84B a month, he elucidated.

Meanwhile, the SSS in its 2021 report of revenues and expenditures, it showed that its members contributions for the year was P226,122.98 billion .

Its benefits payment for the entire year also reached 223,981.99 B, leaving the agency some P2.14B in savings.

In just a single month of increase, all the savings of the increase in SSS revenues for 2023 would barely be enough to pay for the increased benefits.

“This is not an easy decision,” Macasaet admitted.

“An organization without a clear source of income, could not sustain, we are here top preserve the institution and fund life for the pensioners to receive what rightfully belongs to them and their generations, a somber Macasaet intoned.

Macasaet, who also used to sit at the Government Service Insurance System, would know fund management, especially when it talks about funds from the private sector.

And as it to hammer the final nail, he went on to say that the SSS is not contemplating any increase in contributions, which could have pooled for the agency a sizable income for more benefits.

“Wala sa 2024,” (None in 2024), Macasaet assured, when asked if the SSS is implementing the reported and impending increase in members’ contributions. (PIABohol)

PRESERVING INTEGRITY OF FUND LIFE. As the president and CEO of SSS, Rolando Macasaet said an increase of P1,000 in the retirement benefits translates to P3.5B, while the SSS annual revenues minus the benefits leaves only a difference of less than P3B. The increase can easily deplete the SSS of its funds, unless a more sustainable source of fund is opened. (PIABohol)

SSS EXECUTIVES join representatives from the labor and management sectors including voluntary members of the SSS during the recent Stakeholders’ Forum held at the Be Grad Hotel Convention Hall. The forum allows SSS to listen to its members for a much more transparent and better service. (PIABohol)